The Dominican Master General, Bruno Cadoré, has requested that in 2018 all members of the Dominican family participate in a Dominican Month of Peace to foster global Dominican solidarity with our brothers and sisters working to bring hope and peace to the Democratic Republic of Congo. One of the actions suggested in the materials accompanying the letter of request is to “contact the local DR Congo Embassy to inform them about the Dominican Family’s focus on solidarity with the struggle for sustainable development and peace in the DRC.”

For those willing to participate in this way in the United States, we have gathered the contact information for the DRC Embassy in Washington, D.C., and prepared a draft script for possible use. Please let your Justice Promoter know that you have made the contact. Thank you for your work in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in the Congo.

My name is ___________________________ and I am a member of the Dominican religious order in the U.S.A. We are part of the global Dominican family composed of approximately 25,500 Dominican Sisters of Apostolic Life in around 111 countries and their associated groups, 3,000 nuns, almost 5,000 Friars, hundreds of thousands of Dominican Laity, the Dominican International Youth Movement and Dominican Volunteers International.

The Master General of the Dominican Order, Father Bruno Cadoré,has designated December to be Dominican Month for Peace in order to promote a global Dominican solidarity with our brothers and sisters who are trying to bring hope in situations of violence and war. The focus of our Dominican Month for Peace for 2018 is on the Democratic Republic of Congo.

We want you and your government to know that we are watching and praying for the coming DRC elections on December 23, 2018. We urge your government to do everything possible to guarantee that the elections are peaceful, free, and fair. We stand in solidarity with all the people of the DRC who are full of hope for a peaceful and secure tomorrow. We pray for the leaders, those leaving office and the new leaders to be elected that they will work for the common good of the country and the people.

We are also conscious of what appears to be violence directed particularly at the Catholic community. As you surely know, 60 parishes, 34 convents, 31 Catholic health centers, and 141 Catholic schools have been damaged, and a diocesan center was destroyed in the last 2 years. We ask you to do all that you can to see that this violence stops.

Thank you for your attention to these issues. We look forward to continuing to support the people of the DRC with our prayer and advocacy in the days ahead. May Peace reign in the hearts of the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo.